Ninoska Carolina, Mott Haven Film Festival founder and executive director, left, presents filmmaker Ali Keller with “Best Screenplay” award at the 2022 festival.
Photo courtesy Mott Haven Film Festival
It’s film festival season again in New York City, with several taking place across the five boroughs, including the 61st annual New York Film Festival, the city’s LGBTQ+ film festival, the Brooklyn Horror film festival and, for the fourth installment, the Bronx’s own Mott Haven Film Festival.
“There’s a need for local filmmakers to be exposed via film festivals,” said Ninoska Carolina, Bronx native and Mott Haven Film Festival founder and executive director. “[A need] to be given that experience in the borough they are raised in or live in or work in currently.”
Although the film festival premiered in 2020, it all started back in 2018 when Carolina traveled with her sister, Priscilla Alvarez, to the Lady Filmmakers Festival in Los Angeles to view her sister’s short film, “Sexo y Tortillas” (2018). As the two ventured cross country, Carolina’s curiosity piqued.
“Is there a film festival in the Bronx?” she asked herself and her sister.
After some research, Carolina found that there wasn’t any and armed with her master’s in communications from New York University, she set out to create one. In one year, Carolina, with the help of others, created the Mott Haven Film Festival and fought through the pandemic to execute it.
There’s only two movie theaters in the Bronx. A local nonprofit is doing something about it.
This year will be the Mott Haven Film Festival’s fourth run, featuring 23 screenings out of 50 submissions. The 2023 iteration includes 20 short films, two feature films and the first music video to join the ranks in its four-year history — “Blue,” which is directed by Dylan Hirsh.
The Mott Haven Film Festival will announce winners in seven categories including best director, best comedy and…
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